When the Government of
Saskatchewan asked if I was interested in creating a new work for the
Sturdy-Stone Centre in Saskatoon, I readily agreed. An earlier
work, The Old Working Class, hangs in the first floor of the
building. I drove to Saskatoon to visit the old and check out the site
of the new.
I got a cup of tea and a
cinnamon bun and sat down where I could get a good view of The Old
Working Class. As I sat there, I watched the people who worked on
the first floor: the bakers in the bakery, the waitresses in the
restaurant, grocery clerks in the mini-market. And there I got the idea
for The New Working Class. These were the people who earned
their way in the offices upstairs as secretaries, or in the bakery and
cafeteria. Some were the construction workers who built the building.
The New Working Class
completed the narrative I had begun with The Old Working Class
and hangs, appropriately, seven floors above the first work. This commission was installed in the Sturdy-Stone Centre in 1981.
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